Gunsan City, Republic of Korea, has garnered attention for the city’s initiative called “Our Gunsan,” a policy marketplace that collects valuable policy suggestions from citizens through discussion and participation. Through policy marketplace, deliberative democracy is celebrated where policy experts and citizens in each field discuss and propose policy ideas. It is also an ambitious policy festival for combining policies that are usually considered “difficult matters” with fun events.
This year’s first policy marketplace was held at the Gunsan City Hall on July 6. The event presented various programmes that received a positive enthusiasm from more than 1,000 participants presenting various opinions and ideas.
In the “Talk Concert with Citizens,” the Mayor, City Council Chairman, a Representative of the National Assembly, and citizens freely discussed local issues. All parties took the opportunity seriously, including questions and answers session on policies for raising children and education, and the provision of quality jobs.
There were also various programmes that attracted citizens’ attention, such as the “Lively Roundtable Discussion” where citizens could freely propose and create policies in groups of three or five; the “Citizen’s Podium” where citizens freely expressed their wishes for Gunsan at the City Council Hall; and the “Policy Marketplace Where I Select” where citizens directly voted on citizen policy proposals and selected the best ones.
Other programmes that also attracted the attention of citizens included the ‘Proposal Map,’ which allowed citizens to paste memos of policies needed for their area on a large map of Gunsan and the “Celebrity Lecture” taking theme “Warm Democracy” by Prof. Park Goo Yong of Chonnam National University’s Philosophy Department.
Mayor Kang Im June said, “We will actively utilise the valuable opinions of citizens gathered at the policy forum to develop the city.”
By promoting participatory democracy through civic deliberation and discussion, Gunsan City plans to create a warm city of empathy and communication. Gunsan City’s initiative was inspired from the Sweden’s Almedalen Week (Almedalsveckan).
